InsaneJournal

Wanda hadn’t a clue what she was doing here. It’s good to be around people, Carol said, and it wasn’t as if she had self-isolated–even if she chose to live in a cottage in the middle of the woods, away from people. She always made it a point to be around her people. She did not live alone. Friends visited her semi-regularly. Her grown children with their equally grown partners kept her on her toes, and she found happiness in seeing them all together.

It was all she needed.

But sometimes–sometimes–she was a little bored, a little restless. Her time here was equal parts love and loss, and it was bittersweet to look back at how it all started for her; with the Sanctum, with Stephen, the ring weighing heavily on her finger. Wanda had lost him, then gained Vision, yet kept it on. Then she lost Vision again, and she found herself alone in that aspect of her life one more time. Two loves, gone. There was no need to look for a third.

She didn’t want to, anyway. It was nice to play the occasional dress up, though, and maybe step out for a night–which she soon semi-regretted, because Lux was not her scene. Roz had good things to say about it, but Roz was also college-aged and Wanda was just simply… not. It wasn’t the worst, and it was something new, and that was okay.

Until she was approached by a man who drank one too many drinks while she sat at the bar–nursing a cocktail, enjoying some alone time even if she twisted the ring on her finger constantly–approached her with a terribly slurred pick up line.

Wanda took one hard look at him, eyes flashing red, and uttered the word, “No.”

Spellbound, he clumsily turned from her without issue and sauntered off.

Lux, in truth, wasn’t exactly Bo’s scene these days. She had spent plenty of time in nightclubs – probably more than her fair share, making her way across Canada to avoid trouble for her kills back before the fae came into the picture for her. She’d worked countless bars and spent plenty of recreational time among the throngs, carefully picking out targets that wouldn’t be missed when the hunger became so insatiable that she couldn’t go without anymore.

Everything had changed since those days. She knew what she was, where she’d come from, and she’d learned control. She rarely needed to feed from randoms these days when she had a perfectly willing juicebox upstairs she could leach off for centuries.

That was part of the reason she kept her post at Lux. Lucifer was a good boss and a solid FWB, and if there was one good thing to be said about nightclubs, it was that drunk people weren’t shy about tipping. She made more than enough to support herself and Kenzi just on her base wages, but it never hurt to have some fun money – especially given neither of them were very handy in the kitchen.

She knew Lux well by now. She knew the regulars, the partiers, the occasional visitors, and she always clocked a new face when she saw one. She looked a bit out of place from the start, like she wasn’t sure this had been the right call, but she came in anyway, made herself comfortable at the bar, and seemed content enough with a drink in front of her.

Bo elected not to bother her, but she kept an eye out nevertheless. Someone as gorgeous as that – long reddish hair, sharp green eyes, and a dress that looked more like a slip than a dress – wasn’t going long without someone hitting on her.

Predictably, just that happened.

Unpredictably, this particular man (Jake, one of the partiers and a Vallo University student) turned around pretty damn quickly.

She caught a glimpse of red in those eyes as she faced forward again – oh, that explained it.

“Impressive,” she commented, sauntering over as Jake was engulfed into his friend group once again. “He usually takes a lot more convincing to be deterred. Sometimes staff interference. I’ll have to keep the scary eyes trick in mind.”

What Wanda didn’t reveal was what she may have snuck into his mind a bit to have him leave her alone, but no one needed to know that. It wasn’t a trick she used often. Morals were to blame for that, she supposed. She also just wasn’t in the mood to entertain or to have to repeat herself; that would agitate her beyond a little mind manipulation, and she did not need an audience for that.

“I have two sons close to his age, the answer will always be no,” she said with a soft snort, not having expected to engage in a conversation outside of drink orders. Jury was out on whether Wanda minded it or not. She pulled the little plastic sword that held the fruit garnishes in her drink, and slid the cherry off with her teeth. Cocktails. When was the last time she had anything outside of wine?

Too long, probably.

“I will vouch for the scary eyes trick - creeping them out is a good tactic.”

Bo’s eyebrows raised at that revelation but only briefly. It was hard to believe a woman this young had two close to college-aged sons, but no judgment. If anything, that just added a layer of ‘hot MILF’ to her general vibe and the radiation of power coming off her. She could feel it even without the glowing electric red eyes.

“I’m usually more of a strongly suggest or brute force sort of person,” she admitted, pulling the bar towel off her shoulder to mop up a spot vacated by a couple of giggling druids. “But I appreciate the creep-out tactic. Kids these days respond to fear, y’know?”

That was followed up with a playful smirk before she leaned on her forearms on the freshly dried bartop. They were in that sweet spot after the bulk of the partying had died down, and the groups were slowly beginning to dwindle and part ways. She had time to be friendly, and if she was a little flirtatious, well, it was just in her nature. Unlike some, she knew to take ‘no’ for an answer the first time it was said.

“You’re new around here, right?” Here being Lux, not Vallo at large. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“First time here, actually.” Possibly also her last time. Wanda didn’t have it in her to make bar-hopping much of a pastime. Back in the day when Sokovia actually existed, she and Pietro had their favorite spots - they had their respective flings and somewhat acted their age before signing up for experimentation. “I tend to usually sit at home with the television on, but…”

Pursing her lips, Wanda shrugged, and she went back to toying and twisting her ring - a soul-bond one, tethered to a soul that she couldn’t feel here. The thought of taking it off felt like an odd betrayal, but had that even mattered when she was with Vision while he was here? “I thought I’d try something different since I had nothing better to do.”

“So, you went from a TV night to Lux?” Bo’s eyebrows raised again. “You continue to impress me. That’s a pretty stark contrast.” Lux was, in general, a minefield of chaos, and this new patron of hers had come in right around the peak of the night. That was a lot of noise and drama to deal with when someone was used to vegging on the couch with popcorn and TV.

Her eyes fell to the ring briefly – hard not to when it was consistently spun around her finger, almost like a nervous habit – but she didn’t pry. It was easy enough to assume she’d lost someone special to her just from that; she wasn’t going to ask more from a woman whose name she didn’t even know.

“Were you looking for something specific when you came out? Or just a change of pace?”

Gods, what would that something specific even be? To take someone home? There was no significant other currently present in her life. Vallo had made sure of that. But there were strings still, and she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to cut them loose. Wanda squinted her eyes as she thought it through, rubbing her lips together–they were shiny from the bit of lip gloss she had applied. “A change of pace,” is what she settled on, chin resting into the palm of her hand.

“I have been used to going to places with someone,” Wanda added pensively. “With either friends or a partner, and I suppose I haven’t been out like this by myself in a… very long time. I guess I just wanted to see how it felt now. This place is nice but a little…”

Her nose crinkled at Bo, smiling.

“...extra?”

“Oh yeah,” Bo agreed with a laugh, grin wide with white teeth. “Just like its owner. Nice guy but very extra guy. I’d put some of that down to him being the Devil.”

If only her mother could see her now, in a top that bared so much skin, working the bar at a club run by, quite literally, the Devil Himself, she would have a conniption. Maybe that contributed to Bo sticking around, too, a fuck you to all the religious trauma inflicted on her growing up.

“You’ve braved the nightclub scene valiantly, if you ask me,” she continued, her smile tempering into something softer. “Being on your own can be tough when you’re used to being surrounded by people. I’d have tread into shallower waters.”

She straightened up, reaching under the bar to produce two shot glasses. “What’s your poison? On me. You need something a little stronger to celebrate getting through a first night at Lux.”

Wanda’s brows rose up with intrigue. Shot glasses. Gods, she hadn’t done straight liquor since her honeymoon? The second one. The first once had been tainted by memories from home and -

Fuck. She needed to stop. Not everything had to remind her of how things used to be (how things should still be), and she hated to wallow. Wanda had wallowed enough. She had destroyed enough with that wallowing, and while she felt like she had a better grip on how to deal with loss and grief, it could still be something so difficult to shake off.

“Crown,” she decided firmly, because why not. It was free. Her liver could handle it. “And if you plan to take one with me - should at least give me your name. I’m Wanda.”

She was also fairly certain this one’s been around the Outlander Network, too. Wanda didn’t always comment on everything but she lurked enough to keep herself up-to-date with new arrivals.

“Bo. Nice to meet you, Wanda.” The name sounded familiar – her Outlander Network presence was minimal, but she scrolled enough to know the basic ins and outs and keep an eye on her wild-child bestie – but Bo wasn’t the most social of creatures outside of her very small circle. The dots weren’t quite connecting, but right now, that didn’t matter, anyway.

She scooped up the appropriate bottle and poured out two shots, nudging one closer to her new friend across the bar. She held hers up. “To making it through a night at Lux. Not a task for the faint of heart.”

“There are at least worse places to endure,” Wanda said, raising her shot glass to give a little clink against Bo’s–before knocking it back in one go, letting the liquor burn its way down her throat. The taste was stronger than expected but it had also been a hot minute, and she at least didn’t shame herself by making an obvious grimace of disgust.

It did take a decent amount of will to suppress a full-body shudder.

“I tend to stick to wine nowadays,” she confessed, fully convinced that she was able to feel her nose hairs for a few seconds there, “or mead. They tend to offer more forgiving hangovers if I happen to drink too much. That made me remember drinking contests with my brother. But that was with very cheap vodka, or the homemade kind of alcohol that tastes like jet fuel.”

“I’m more of a wine girl myself,” Bo admitted, making a face as the shot burned down her throat. She could take shots like a champ, and she certainly wasn’t afraid of liquor, but she’d taken to the homebody lifestyle – glass of wine in one hand, bowl of popcorn in her lap. Especially since she’d gone to Vallo, without constant interference from the fae, she was much more free to do as she pleased.

“I spent far too long making questionable choices while drinking my way across Canada. Definitely made some grown men really angry doing drinking contests, too.” She smirked; ah, fond memories. “Nowadays, my questionable choices are made soberly. Or wine drunk, which is close enough.”

Drinking contests. Wanda squinted at her. She could see it. She barely knew Bo but she seemed capable of holding her own when it came to alcohol, and even men in general. Which led her to ask, “What are you?”

That was probably a rude question.

“That came out–sorry,” she winced sheepishly, trying to bite back an awkward smile. “I can just… you feel different. Energy-wise.” Most of the time she put up psychic blockers to keep herself from feeling overwhelmed by all the magic and odd powers running rampant through Vallo, but Bo was right there. It wasn’t hard to pick up on the fact that she was different. “You feel…”

Sexual, she thought about saying.

But that might be weird.

Bo grinned, the flash of teeth projecting some mixture of devilish and amused. It was an awfully forward question, but she didn’t mind. She hadn’t bothered keeping what she was a secret around here; there was no reason. There were mythical creatures on every corner here. Hell, a literal minotaur ran a bagel cart, vampires walked in daylight, witches’ covens were prominent Vallo organizations, even Vallo’s fae were known.

“Don’t apologize.” She picked up the bottle and poured out another shot for each of them. “Fae. Succubus, specifically.” Her eyes flashed a glowing, electric blue, not completely dissimilar to the trick Wanda had pulled on poor Jake. “You?”

The energy Wanda gave off was potent, too; she radiated power similarly to Lucifer, in a way that Bo was sure she could feed off until the end of time. She’d met a few of those powerhouses around here, but she hadn’t been quite as tempted to devour them.

Had she encountered a succubus in Vallo before? Wanda didn’t think she had but it made sense, the whole… vibe she was getting. That sexual energy she felt, and she felt a spike of it when she saw the glow of her eyes. It wasn’t as weird as she thought, then.

Huh.

“I’m human,” she answered, bringing the shot glass towards her again as she contemplated downing it a second time. Wanda didn’t overthink it very long. She knocked it back (it went easier that time, less of a burning on her tongue) and set it down on the bartop again. “I went through some experiments, was exposed to a cosmic stone, got powers–then it turns out those powers make me some sort of prophesied witch. Back home, at least.”

Wanda’s hand did a little flourish, palm facing up, and magic danced in red wisps and took the form of a silhouette. It was the Scarlet Witch outline illustrated from the Darkhold, spinning like a tiny dancer in her hand. “It doesn’t matter much here. It’s been nice.”

A witch. Bo hadn’t expected that, but she was suitably impressed by the little show of red magic, conjured up so casually. Red seemed to be a theme, and she couldn’t deny her curiosity had peaked with the words experiments and cosmic stone. It sounded like the lead-up to a superhero (or supervillain) origin story, but she didn’t press. She understood the want to move past something as big and life-changing as that.

“Definitely a Vallo plus,” she concurred, taking a moment to knock back her shot, too. “Prophecy, lineage, political bullshit from home – all nothing around here. I’m a big fan of the opportunity to hold down a job that doesn’t involve figuring out how to kill ancient bird-human monsters.”

The smile that followed was wry, but there was a surprising lack of bitterness in her tone there. She’d done what needed to be done, but she and Kenzi had left that life behind even before they’d ended up in Vallo. It was over now, and she had no intention of going back to it even if she could. Vallo had been through some serious drama in her time here, but none of it was on her.

That magic was snuffed out when she closed her hand into a fist. The Scarlet Witch felt like a title of the past–no one really referred to her as that here, and it was nice to put some distance between her and that. “Can’t say my experience extends to ancient bird-human monsters, but I can appreciate you having freedom from that,” Wanda smiled back, a teeny bit tipsy. Only a teeny bit.

It was a good enough amount to keep her relaxed.

“I do intend to tip you for these shots,” she added on, voice soft but–low, husky. “With cash, of course.” The clarification felt necessary. Must be the alcohol since her mind went into the gutter thanks to her own words, though she wasn’t embarrassed. Wanda’s smile sharpened into a smirk. “Thank you for redeeming my Lux experience.”

Bo chuckled, returning her upper arms onto the bartop and leaning closer to Wanda with a grin. “You’re more than welcome,” she purred. One hand raised, fingers trailing gently, and very briefly, around Wanda’s wrist, up the back of her hand. It wasn’t enough to pull the other woman under her thrall, but it would bring her a little jolt of pleasure. “No tip necessary. Trust me, you made my night much more tolerable. That’s better than any tip.” That–

Tingled.

Wanda was usually the one responsible for putting people under some kind of influence, and she was seldom at the receiving end of it. This wasn’t enough that it removed self-control or anything but it was–tingly. It made her tingle in places that only a vibrator these days tingled. Bo was literally a walking aphrodisiac, and the only appropriate response to that was to cross her legs.

“Flattered,” she shot back to her, the smile polishing itself into a smirk. Bo was flirting, too–she was fine with that. Wanda wasn’t ready to take anything beyond some playful banter but to do it felt… nice. “I will take a water, then. I’m thirsty.”